Sobotka returning to Blues, signs 3-year, $10.5M contract extension
Vladimir Sobotka is back with the St. Louis Blues.
The forward is set to join the club for the remainder of this season to fulfill the one-year contract awarded to him in arbitration in 2014.
At the same time, general manager Doug Armstrong has announced that the Blues have signed Sobotka to a three-year contract extension worth $10.5 million, thereby carrying a cap hit of $3.5 million.
Sobotka will meet the Blues in Carolina and will wear No. 71. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/HQQ9nuJt7q
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 6, 2017
Sobotka elected to walk away from the one-year, $2.725-million contract awarded to him as a restricted free agent in 2014, choosing instead to sign with Avangard Omsk of the KHL, with whom he spent the past three seasons.
He will play out 2016-17 under the terms of that deal, and the contract extension will kick in next season.
Originally drafted by Boston in 2005, Sobotka has recorded 35 goals and 88 assists in 381 NHL games with the Bruins and Blues. In 138 KHL games during his NHL hiatus, he scored 37 goals and added 65 assists.
The Blues, then, now have some reinforcements in advance of the playoffs, and some closure on a situation that has sat on the back burner for a few years.